MLS: Union's McInerney to play for United States

The buzz that has circulated for the first four months of the MLS season finally yielded results Thursday: Jack McInerney is on the U.S. men’s national team roster.

The Philadelphia Union striker was named to Jurgen Klinsmann’s 23-man roster for next month’s CONCACAF Gold Cup.

“It means a lot for me. This is something that I’ve always wanted,” McInerney said in a team release. He was not made available for comment by the club. “I always grew up watching the Men’s National Team play and wanted to be there one day. It hasn’t really sunk in yet. I think it will once I get there, but right now in the moment, it feels good. … I got a phone call from Jurgen, and he told me that I had made it, I’ve been having a good season, congratulations, and I was just excited. I called my parents and I told them, and I think that they were probably happier than I was.”

McInerney will report to San Diego for a camp July 1 ahead of a July 5 friendly with Guatemala. The U.S. opens up the tournament July 9 against Belize at Portland’s Jeld-Wen Field. With the final slated for July 27 in Chicago, McInerney is likely to miss five Union matches. He is available for Sunday’s match with FC Dallas.

At age 20, McInerney is the youngest player on the squad and one of only four players on the team born after 1990. Of the 23 players named, only he and Houston defender Corey Ashe have yet to appear for the senior national team.

Should McInerney make his debut, it would be the first time an active member of the Union played for the U.S. men’s national team. It would also bring the total of current Union players to have appeared for their country to eight, tying them for the third-lowest total among MLS clubs.

Ten of the players on Klinsmann’s roster hail from MLS clubs. The Gold Cup is being used by the German coach as a chance to vet young talent like McInerney and Scandinavian-based midfielders Mix Diskerud and Josh Gatt while also reintegrating older players who have fallen out of favor and missed the cut for June’s World Cup qualifiers.

That means players like Oguchi Oneywu, Landon Donovan and Stuart Holden, guys who have found it tough to find a way into Klinsmann’s recent sides, have a chance to state their case for inclusion in next summer’s trip to the World Cup in Brazil, should the U.S. complete qualification.

Also included in the roster is former Union player Michael Orozco Fiscal, currently with Mexican club Puebla. The defender, who spent 2010 on loan with the Union, famously scored the game-winner against Mexico last summer, the U.S.’s only win in its 25th attempt on Mexican soil.

McInerney has turned heads this season with his MLS-leading 10 goals. The seventh overall pick in the Union’s inaugural SuperDraft back in 2010, McInerney saw time sparingly under former manager Peter Nowak. With the installation of John Hackworth as coach last summer, McInerney has flourished, scoring 18 times in the last 12 and a half months.

As for Hackworth, who has been on various U.S. national team staffs through the year, his role in getting McInerney on the squad was larger than most club coaches, according to Klinsmann.

“It’s a partnership that we always have to build with the club coach. John Hackworth has known Jack for a long time already and really gave us great input on his personality and his game,” Klinsmann said in a release on the U.S. Soccer website. “Jack seems to have his feet on the ground and is strong enough to come and experience things on the senior level. There is no pressure on Jack at all, just the wish that he gets integrated and adjusted and gives it his best. He seems to be a player who is pretty hungry and has a great instinct for the goal, which is why he has 10 goals already this year. Off the field, we want him to take it one day at a time and become part of the group. It will certainly be important that we keep his feet on the ground and don’t make things bigger than they are. I think he is in good hands in Philadelphia.”

McInerney also stands on the precipice of making history, all before his 21st birthday Aug. 5. In the seven Gold Cups held since 2000, only seven players younger than he have been included in a Gold Cup roster, according to MLSSoccer’s Dave Zeitlin.

Of the 58 players included in national team camps and rosters over the last year, McInerney’s debut would be the 10th quickest. The names ahead of him read like a who’s who of America soccer: Jozy Altidore, Michael Bradley, Donovan, DaMarcus Beasley, Steve Cherundolo and Eddie Johnson, to name a few.

The U.S. is seeded in Group C alongside Belize, Cuba and Costa Rica, with group games scheduled in Portland, Salt Lake City and Hartford, Conn. Should the Americans finish either first or second in their group, they would play a quarterfinal in Baltimore July 21. The semis are in Dallas’ Cowboys Stadium for the right to play in the Soldier Field final.

For more on what McInerney’s inclusion means for the Union, visit Matthew De George’s blog at uniontally.blogspot.com.